Calls, Texts and DMs
by corneroffandom
Summary: Being a certified G, sometimes it's easier for Enzo to say what he's feeling in texts, but there does come a time when even that's not enough.


They meet as teenagers. A group of kids playing basketball in one of the less wrecked courts in the area. Colin is hard to miss because of his size, and Eric is hard to ignore because of his boisterous mouth, constantly spitting insults at the other team. How they work together so well, no one knows, but they do.

Eric considers getting Colin's number sometimes, maybe giving him a call, but his parents are wary of his using the phone- aware of how long he can tie up the line if they don't watch him- and then Colin fades away and Eric doesn't see him anymore, so he guesses it doesn't matter either way.

Almost a decade has passed before he sees that familiar size, those eyes, filling up the doorway at the WWE Performance Center and it's like the wind's been knocked out of him. He _remembers_ Colin- Big Cass now because why not- all too well, those evenings spent on the basketball court. They still flow like they did back then, Cass all strength and solid determination, Enzo- because he's changed his name in the years that've passed too, Eric was left behind a long, long time ago- flash and a loud mouth, eager to get people's attention.

"Hey, man," he calls out before Cass leaves that night. "Maybe we should trade numbers, y'know? Since we're both kinda... new here, I mean I don't know many people, do ya?"

"Not really," Cass says, ambling back over to him, phone already out. As soon as each other's number is in the other's phone, Cass waves and leaves and Enzo stares at his phone, a subtle kind of thrill easing down his spine.

His first friend in WWE may be an old friend re-discovered, but that makes it even better really. It's kinda amazing how life works out.

Enzo isn't a complete idiot, though. He restrains himself. Keeps Cass' number on ice until WWE higher ups inform them that they're going to try them out as a tag team, since they knew each other as teens. Enzo can't stop grinning at the news and even Cass seems happy about it, in his way. They've both been struggling- Cass isn't that great at speaking to a crowd, and Enzo is still learning the ropes- literally- so it's perfect, pairing them together like this. Gives them time to work on their weaknesses, rely on each other through the difficult times. Not to mention, Enzo's been looking for a reason to spend time with him outside of training. He couldn't ask for anything better.

He doesn't wanna completely scare Cass off, though, so he gives it a few days. Lets them wrestle their first tag match together, which they spend learning each other's in-ring habits, how they flow together, what might need work to make them as successful as they can be. They eventually lose but it's ok, it's just a practice run. Rome wasn't built in a day, after all. He sends the first text that night.

 _Hey Big Guy, nice workin' with ya this afternoon. I think with time, we can be somethin' special, y'know? Burn our way through the tag division and all that. See ya at the Performance Center tomorrow then._

Cass is about as wordy in texts as he is in life, but it still makes Enzo grin when his phone lights up with, _Lookin' forward to it._

Partnering them up was a brilliant decision. Enzo learns quickly with Cass' help, highlighting his strengths and avoiding his weaknesses as best as he can. He's small and so new to wrestling in comparison to his tag partner, and their opponents like to use that against them, so Enzo gets good at getting the tag as soon as possible when he's in danger, allowing Cass to do what Cass does best, and that's clean out the ring with his large size, and the monstrous power behind his boots and elbows while Enzo drapes over the ropes and watches him. They slowly start picking up wins, even makes it on TV sometimes. It's a sight to see for Enzo, his career picking up now. He owes it all to Cass, and he lets him know it in texts after each event.

 _Thanks for havin' my back against the Ascension, man. Didn't get as far as we'd like tonight I know, but we'll get 'em next time for sure. Those tag belts got our names on 'em. See ya tomorrow._

Only a few moments pass before Cass responds, _Any time, 'Zo. See ya then._

Which things continue going well for them, the crowd warming up to them more and more, until Enzo goes and breaks his leg in a freak accident while training in the ring that winter. Cass is there, practicing finishers with him, and it says a lot about how pale he is, his hands shaking against Enzo's shoulder as he tries to keep him still while people work over his leg, prepare him for transport to the ER."I'll be right behind you, 'Zo. Don't worry 'bout a thing, you're in good hands," Cass tells him, his voice only loud enough to cut through the pain.

Enzo nods, grits his teeth, and fights not to yell out in pain when they move him, begin to transport him. The ambulance ride is annoying, quiet, and he's trapped in his own thoughts as they race towards the hospital where his leg is set and he's taken in for surgery to put plates and rods and whatever else hardware to hold his leg together while it heals.

When he comes down from the good drugs, Cass is sitting by the bed, hands steepled and eyes downcast. Enzo watches him for a few moments before croaking out, "Thanks for comin', big guy."

Cass jerks, then leans forward and helps Enzo sip from a glass of water. "Where else'd I be, huh?" he asks, rubbing Enzo's shoulder. He still seems pale and drawn but his hand is stable now, and Enzo takes the comfort where he can get it.

Enzo stays in the hospital for a few days while they keep an eye on his leg, make sure that he's recovering from the surgery well. When he's discharged, Cass stays with him. Helps him clean up without getting his cast wet, cooks for him, even cleans up a little. "Y'know, I was thinkin'," Cass says. "It's kinda dumb for us to live in two apartments, we're a team now... and you're gonna need help for awhile. My lease is about up on my apartment, why don't we just find a place together, or we could live here. I think it's big enough."

Enzo swallows. Stares at the solid back of his partner and nods, waiting for him to turn around and look, arms still wet from doing dishes that Enzo had let pile up for who knows how long before his injury. "You see the mess I leave the place in, and y'know I'm gonna be down on my ass for a long time, and you still wanna live with this? Why?"

Cass chuckles. Dries his hands off on a towel and kneels down next to the couch, playing with Enzo's limp hair. "C'mon, Zo. You're like my closest friend in developmental. I got your back, especially now." He nods at Enzo's leg. "'Sides, it'll be kinda nice to not be alone all the time, yeah? Have someone to come home to after events and whatever. Unless ya don't wanna live with me," he says, his brows furrowing when Enzo still hesitates.

Enzo thinks Cass is probably the best roommate ever, it's definitely not that. He exhales. "Is just, I know a lil of me goes a long way, so who's to say ya don't move in and start to hate me or somethin'?"

Cass scoffs. "Man, c'mon. I've known you how long by now? Work every day with ya, till all hours of the night workin' on promos and moves and that sorta crap. If you start getting on my nerves, trust me, I will let you know." He lightly presses his knuckles against Enzo's jaw. "If I didn't think I could handle livin' with ya, I wouldn't have suggested it."

"Alright alright," Enzo mumbles, his eyes lighting up. "When can ya move in then?"

It actually works out alright. They live together fine, Cass barely blinks at Enzo's odd ways and loud music, or equally loud need to talk at all hours of the day- he does _try_ to be more considerate when Cass is asleep, and usually succeeds at it. Cass is a huge help while he struggles to get around those first few weeks after his surgery. He hadn't told many people, but the leg injury was bad. Like, the ER nurse mentioned they almost didn't have enough to save his leg bad. When he'd heard that, he'd felt as awful as Cass had looked the night he'd shattered his leg. So he's on the shelf a long time. Leaves Cass by himself for too long, and only manages to do a few things backstage while using a motorized wheelchair. Finally, though, come June, almost nine months after the initial injury, he finally returns. Saves Cass from LeForte and Louis.

Afterwards, Cass hugs him with a smile and ruffles his hair in a way that makes Enzo huff, shaking his head in an attempt to get his hair to lay normally again, but he's not really bothered by it, just happy to be back where he belongs by the big guy's side. They both have a late night, that night, and Enzo is too jittery to sleep once he does get to bed. Grabs his phone and fiddles with the keys before accessing his text messages.

 _Thanks for always bein' there for me while I was injured, bro. Appreciated it._

He's pleasantly surprised when his phone lights up, Cass responding in his usual, precise fashion. _Any time, 'Zo. You know that._

 _Can't sleep? Wanna find a movie to watch or somethin'?_

 _Sure. I'd like that._

Enzo beams and leaps out of bed.

-x

Wrestling _hurts_ more than before now, his leg letting him know when he overdoes it, but he keeps to his strengths, few as they are, as best as he can. They ultimately win out in this weird back and forth they have going with LeForte and Louis, and then Carmella joins them. Some snafu at the hairdresser one day had left her out of a job and Enzo normally doesn't feel bad about things, but she's a looker and he thinks she could go places so between him and Cass, they talk her up to management until they agree to give her a chance, which thankfully calms her down somewhat. They float in and out of the title scene, never winning the big one. How Cass can stand it, Enzo's never sure. The losses itch at the back of his skull, piling up and piling up and piling up until...

They're led aside and Hunter informs them they're being moved up to the main roster after Wrestlemania. This is huge, this is big time. They're both in awe and Enzo hugs Cass, HHH, and anyone in the vicinity he thinks is responsible for this move. Hell, Enzo's only been in the company a few years, half of that time spent recovering from his leg, and now he gets to move up to the big leagues with his best friend? He can't stop smiling.

 _Thank you for stickin' up for me through thick 'n' thin, big guy. We're gonna wreck all'a those wanna be teams up on the main roster in no time._

Cass' response makes Enzo smirk. _For sure, Zo. Now get some sleep, big day tomorrow._

Enzo shakes his head. Knows sleep is pretty much impossible right now.

There are nerves, sure. Neither are certain they'll get a good response, wouldn't be the first time people from NXT worked ok in that setting just to move up and receive crickets. But the crowd loves them, chants along with their shtick, hates their opponents like they'd personally done 'em dirty, and both Cass and Enzo breathe a sigh of relief when the momentum doesn't stop.

Until it does at their first PPV match. Enzo gets thrown too fast, too close to the ropes, and he can't save himself right- slips under the ropes and hits just wrong, everything going dark almost immediately. He comes to awhile later, groggy and disoriented, mumbling for Cass, but he's in the back of an ambulance and his partner's nowhere to be seen, the EMT speaking next to him, words low and meaningless. "Where's- wh... my phone? Huh?" He wants to text Cass, nothing making sense or feeling right. Lights are painful against his eyes and his head feels like it's splitting in two with each jostle of the ambulance, but no matter how often he asks, the EMT won't cough up his stuff, and he's pretty frustrated by the time he arrives at the hospital... until a doctor's words break through the pain and he realizes he's been concussed. During a match. _Well ain't that a kick in the pants._

Cass is frantic by the time they see each other again, eyes wet and red, looking awkward in a suit and rushing past Owens and every nurse and doctor in his path until he's by Enzo's bed, squeezing his arm and staring into his face. "Zo," he chokes out. "Are ya alright? What are they telling ya?"

He's just sitting in bed to appease the hospital staff, but now that Cass and Owens are here- which it's clear Owens is having the time of his life, taking pictures of them, and sending it along to Twitter, and sitting there with a dumb little smirk on his face while Enzo yammers on and Cass stares at him, perplexed- he gets out of bed and tests out how he feels. Well, his head hurts and sometimes if he turns too fast, he feels dizzy, but considering. He feels pretty damn fine. So they of course release him and he poses for more pictures outside, Cass suggesting it'll make his fans feel better to know he's doing fine. The flash sends sharp pain through his skull and down his neck, so only one or two are taken by the end of it.

It sucks being apart from Cass again. Enzo holed up at home while the staff at the performance center watches him, checks his IMPACT testing, and makes sure he's recovering well. At some point he watches the footage from the night of the PPV back, eyes itching when he sees Cass' response. How the big guy had gotten emotional, had not reacted well at being separated from Enzo in this moment, probably cursing his height and everything else keeping him from being there for him. Nothing keeps him from grabbing his phone and texting him this time. He'd been told to avoid using his devices like normal, but still. He has to do _something._

 _Hey, big guy. Staff says I should be able to return in a week or two, dependin' on how my tests hold up. Prolly won't get to wrestle immediately, but least I'll be back on the road with ya._

His response is slow. Enzo isn't concerned, Raw is a busy place, it's no big deal. _Long as you're 100%, Zo. All that matters._

Cass has been very watchful when he's home, making sure Enzo isn't pushing himself, is being careful with his limited in-ring time, is following the Performance Center staff's instruction to the letter.

 _Yeah, man. Always. I wouldn't do anythin' to jeopardize that._ After seeing the footage- Cass' reaction- he definitely would not.

 _And I wouldn't let ya either._

Enzo smiles at the response, shaking his head. Wonders how a loud mouth like him could've gotten so lucky with such a loyal best friend.

-x

Despite the care and limitations heaped on him, Enzo returns quick, all things considered, back within the month, but it doesn't change the fact that it'd derailed their momentum. Things aren't that different from NXT now, the two of them hovering just behind the tag team championships, but never quite close enough to claim them for themselves. It's frustrating and even Enzo can't think up the words to describe how it feels, so they never really talk much about it, except in the abstract here and there when Enzo mentions it in his freeform raps that he does when he can't sleep and everything's just a little too fresh to ignore.

Somewhere in all of this, Cass locks him out of the locker room naked and he wavers, uncertain and not sure what to do. He'd left his phone inside, so texting the guy is out of the question. Shrugging it off, he wanders the halls and... of course... runs into the prettiest woman in the room, Lana. He flirts with her because he's Zo, it's what he does- and then Rusev enters the picture and it all goes downhill from there, Cass finally pulling the save and dragging him away. But it puts him in Rusev's orbit and they feud for awhile, Enzo never really coming out ahead against him _or_ Jinder, who for some reason interjects himself into the whole mess.

Sticks in the back of his mind, especially when he's holed up with a knee injury thanks to Rusev and his new buddy, why Cass would've put all of this into motion, but he lets it go. Cass is still his best friend, his brother, and wrestling's a weird business. These things happen.

They move past it eventually anyway, get back in the tag title scene, where they belonged all along in Enzo's mind. And even get a tag title opportunity at their first Wrestlemania... but it all falls apart when the Hardyz return, get the win.

Then a few weeks later, Enzo is minding his own backstage when he feels a sharp pain and everything goes dark. He comes to to Cass overhead, a bunch of refs and trainers talking to him, and no memory of what happened. No clue who did it, though he has his suspicions, but Cass is very careful with him that night, gets him ice and painkillers and tucks him into bed, sitting with him afterwards. He's quiet, but he's always quiet, and Enzo murmurs out a faint _thanks_ before falling asleep.

It keeps happening. Enzo senses _someone_ this time, though, and has just turned when he's met with a boot to the face. He crumples immediately but a flash of memory returns to him when he comes to, his mind doing its best to disprove what his eye saw. _No way, that wasn't..._ He flinches when he opens his eyes to Cass hovering over him again, but he shakes it off. _Been hit in the head too often lately, startin' to see things._ He doubts himself even more when it's Cass getting attacked the next few weeks, Enzo forced to team with Big Show once because of it. After that, Cass absolutely refuses to let him team with anyone else, so they fight the best they can while Cass is out of it, but there's no real chance with Cass not at a hundred percent. They lose.

Then the truth comes out. Cass hates him. Enzo hurts, physically and emotionally, Angle's voice a dull roar in the back of his mind. All of this time, and Cass stopped seeing him as his brother, as his friend. How the man he's known since they were teenagers could be so cold and... devious the last few months makes no sense to him. _It's not Cass, it's not Cass, it's not Cass._ Something about the main roster warped them, weakened their bond born from the streets of New Jersey and bred in the halls of NXT, made Enzo do stupid things like going into Lana's hotel room, and made Cass hate Enzo. But Cass' things are already gone out of the apartment by the time Enzo returns to Florida, no sign of him except for the keys Enzo had given him after he'd broken his leg all of those years ago sitting on the counter.

So he does something he'd been slacking on while busy with Rusev and everything leading up to Wrestlemania. Accesses his texts to Cass. _Yo, you can kick me in the face, you can move out, do whatever you want, but you can't ignore me forever, big guy. We work together and I need answers from ya, proper ones, not just the stuff you were spewin' on Raw. Call me, we can meet up, whatever you want._

No answer comes. He doesn't give up though, calls Cass at all hours, leaves him DMs on Twitter, tests facetiming him, even calls his mother, for God's sake. She seems as perplexed at what she'd seen on Raw as Enzo feels, if not more, and he hurts for her, feeling the disappointment in her voice like it's his own heartbeat. Their families had always gotten along, laughing long and loud over homecooked meals whenever they were in the Jersey area, so for this to have happened... and for Cass' mom to have as little a clue as Enzo himself... Nothing is making sense.

He's feeling more and more desperate as time draws by, missing Cass like an itch under his skin. Doesn't matter if the guy hates him, he'd been his best friend for so long, it's like a vital part of Enzo's been cut away, taken from him, and it's a rougher punch to the gut than any he's ever experienced before whenever he forgets, for a minute, and heads to Cass' bedroom just to find he's not there. Thinks something may be in the water between Ciampa doing this exact thing to Gargano, and everything else going on. _2017, the year friendship died,_ he thinks bitterly before trudging back to bed.

Monday afternoon he stares up at the arena Raw will be held at later that night. Considers if Cass has arrived yet. Thumbs over the screen of his phone and exhales, trying one more text. _I'm not giving up on this, big guy. Not givin' up on US. Raw tonight, I'll see you in the ring if you don't wanna do this in private, we're gonna hash some things out._

So he does just that. Is surprised when Cass responds, comes out and stares him down while he bleeds himself dry, explains everything that'd been rattling around in his mind, for Cass, the crowd, and the entire TV watching world to see. Reiterates how they're brothers, and how Enzo wants to be tag champions with Cass and won't give up until they are, and dammit it all if Cass' eyes aren't as red as Enzo's feels right now. He thinks he's actually getting through to Cass, face to face like this, and yeah, Cass starts off kind of insulting in his response, but then he admits he's ashamed for his actions and says that anyone who thinks that he was giving up on them is SAWFT and Enzo feels like he can breathe again, face scrunching up to not cry all over as Cass hugs him so tight, pounding on his back so hard, that it's this side of painful, but it feels good, somehow, after a week of nothing but agonizing thoughts and one-sided communications.

He thinks he probably should've seen it coming, really. More crap in the water supply, because here they are on the ramp, and Cass- Cass lands a forearm to Enzo's upper chest, sending Enzo down hard, just to hoist him back up and toss him down the ramp, where he lands hard on his shoulder before rolling the rest of the way down, and... when he comes to, he's not sure if he should laugh or cry that this is happening _again._ That Cass had played him so easily, after he had poured his entire soul out.

So he does both, startling the medical staff who's looking after him, making sure his arm isn't injured after hitting so hard. Once he's calmed down somewhat, he reaches out with a shaky hand, feeling the pain stab up his elbow to his shoulder. "I need my phone," he says breathlessly, wiping at his face with his other hand. "Gimme my phone please."

There's no sign of a concussion, so they oblige him for once, handing over the device from his peronal affects and he stares at the screen, chin wobbling anew at the wallpaper. Him and Cass, on a road trip early on into their time in Raw, hanging out by a road sign, neither really looking at the other. They'd been in the car for hours before deciding to take this break, have some fellow traveler at the nearest rest stop take this picture for them. Tensions had been high, but that break, the fresh air and actually talking with someone other than each other had snapped their moods, left them laughing awkwardly and slapping each other on the back before getting back in the car and driving the rest of the way, Cass even humming under his breath a bit to Enzo's music.

There's no way this'll end so well. Too much has happened while Enzo was too trapped in his own nonsense and not paying attention to the things that really mattered around him, Cass had grown too bitter and angry with him. But... Enzo scrubs his face and accesses his texts once more.

 _You can throw me around all ya want, Big Cass. Yell at me, yell at the crowd. Kick my head off ten times to Sunday. I'm not givin' up on you, brother. I'll see ya on Monday._


End file.
